Abnormal propagation and interface refraction of light in a photonic crystal and their applications

Wei Jiang; Chuhua Tian; Linghui Wu; Yihong Chen; Ray T. Chen

doi:10.1117/12.479511

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9 July 2003 Abnormal propagation and interface refraction of light in a photonic crystal and their applications

Wei Jiang, Chuhua Tian, Linghui Wu, Yihong Chen, Ray T. Chen

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Proceedings Volume 5000, Photonic Crystal Materials and Devices; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.479511
Event: Integrated Optoelectronics Devices, 2003, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

We analyze the abnormal refraction and propagation when a light beam of finite and practical width enters a photonic crystal from a uniform medium. The beam propagation in the photonic crystal is very complex, and in many cases, is beyond the realm of refraction (even with a renormalized refractive index given by photonic band calculation). Generally, light propagation is restricted to a triangular region (or a fan), although the light may not fill the whole triangle, nor is the light intensity uniform in the triangle. It is found beam divergence does not have a definite connection with the fan shape of the region of light propagation, in contrast to dynamic X-ray theory. A new origin of the fan shape is suggested. Also simulations indicate that at microscale, a narrow light beam may zigzag in a photonic crystal with sufficiently high index contrast. An application of this phenomenon is to make a wide angle bend for waveguides. The designed bending structure has low loss and matches the mode size of a typical single-mode waveguide for fiber-optic communications. Our simulations are based on two-dimensional photonic crystals.

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Wei Jiang, Chuhua Tian, Linghui Wu, Yihong Chen, and Ray T. Chen "Abnormal propagation and interface refraction of light in a photonic crystal and their applications", Proc. SPIE 5000, Photonic Crystal Materials and Devices, (9 July 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.479511

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